CHAMPAGNE COLUMN: Normandy Invasion injury a sobering reminder

It would be fantastic if the winners from all three Triple Crown races came together and contested the 2013 Travers Stakes. Inarguably, if one of Orb, Oxbow, or Palace Malice won that race, it would give the victor a significant lead in the race for the division's Eclipse Award.

However, a reminder that we shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch came Thursday, when the New York Daily News reported that Normandy Invasion will see a foot specialist and may miss the rest of the season.

Trained by Mechanicville native Chad Brown, Normandy Invasion finished a fast-closing second behind Verrazano in the Grade I Wood Memorial at Aqueduct to punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby. It was Brown's first-ever starter in the Run for the Roses, and he gave his backers a thrill, leading into the stretch before fading to fourth behind Orb.

The horse's connections opted to skip the final two legs of the Triple Crown with an eye toward the Travers. However, the Daily News reported Normandy Invasion has developed a foot abscess, one that puts those plans in serious jeopardy.

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"We thought it would be like any other abscess where we would just soak it in salt water and everything would be fine," owner Rick Porter said in the Daily News piece, which was written by turf writer Jerry Bossert. "We'll know more tomorrow.

"He could still train up to the Travers but we'll have to see. We'll do right by the horse even if it's waiting to bring him back as a 4-year-old."

By and large, the horse racing world has gotten pretty lucky with regard to injuries in this year's 3-year-old division. Normandy Invasion joins a pretty small group of top-tier 3-year-olds that have been forced out of training this year, one that includes Violence, Flashback, Hear the Ghost, and most recently Itsmyluckyday.

As large a group as that sounds, though, this is a stark contrast to 2012. The winners of that year's Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont were all retired prematurely and Haskell winner Paynter very nearly lost his life before his triumphant return to racing earlier this year.

Still, that doesn't make

the possible defection of a likely Travers contender any easier to take. Normandy Invasion has the perfect running style for the 10-furlong race, showed he could get the distance with his run under the Twin Spires, and, from a betting perspective, he'd have likely gone off at a nice price given the name value of his opposition.

Furthermore, a re-routing of Normandy Invasion's schedule would continue a recent stretch of bad luck for Brown in the Midsummer Derby. Remember, he trained late-developing 3-year-old Street Life, a horse that had plenty of respect at the betting windows in last year's renewal (just under 7-1 odds), but was pulled up, vanned off, and eventually retired.

If the abscess is deemed severe enough, it would be a big blow to a 3-year-old division that has largely dodged them through the first seven months of the year. Still, kudos to Porter and Brown for vowing to do right by the horse, and it does sound like the plan is for Normandy Invasion to run as a 4-year-old, which is encouraging.

We at The Saratogian will keep you posted with whatever we hear. Hopefully, it's good news.

Andrew Champagne is a sportswriter with The Saratogian. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewChampagne, and email him at achampagne@saratogian.com.